sadly the 20th century saw many a murderer's doctor but one of the first seemed on the surface one of the least likely dr hawley harvey krippen was said to be quiet mild-mannered and meek yet this didn't stop him from brutally murdering his wife and burying her remains beneath his cellar though some now question whether he actually did either in today's episode of well i never the story of dr crippen one of the most notorious killers in british history but whose guilt is now being questioned by many born on september 11 1862 in the city of
coldwater in michigan the young hawley harvey krippen was known for his meek and mild-mannered nature later he would develop an interest in medicine more specifically homeopathy the popularity of this alternative therapy growing massively at the time he enrolled at the university of michigan homeopathic medical school but transferred to the cleveland homeopathic medical college shortly afterward it was from here that he graduated in 1884 which was also around the same time that he met his first wife charlotte they went on to have a child together a son whom they named holly otto unfortunately for the growing
family charlotte suffered a stroke and died in 1892 leaving her young son motherless while dr krippen did his best to care for otto's needs he was unable to balance his homeopathic career with the energetic toddler admitting defeat he traveled to california to entrust his two-year-old son to his parents he then continued to new york city to establish his own homeopathic practice and started working for dr munyan a homeopathic pharmaceutical company it was while in new york that he met a woman named karine cora turner the daughter of a russian polish immigrant and his german wife
from the get-go it was clear that cora and crippen's personalities were very different while dr krippen was quite gentle and reserved cora was incredibly assertive and extravagant both of which were traits that made her come across as overbearing and intimidating despite this mismatch the two married and moved to london in 1897 where dr krippen set up as a distributor for dr munions due to his us medical qualifications being insufficient to allow him to practice in the uk while he was busy with that cora was trying her hardest to become one of the city's most respected
opera singers she failed miserably in this endeavor though and began working at a music hall instead where she performed under the stage name of belle elmore her constant exposure to the public led to cora involving herself in a string of romantic and sexual affairs with several enraptured fans dr crippen was also far from faithful having been sacked by dr munions for spending too much time trying to manage his wife's career he became manager of druitt's institution for the deaf where he hired one ethel and eve as a typist and soon the pair were having an
affair of their own in september of 1905 dr crippen and cora moved to 39 hill drop crescent camden road in holloway a district of london there they slept in separate bedrooms which served to further deteriorate their already tenuous marriage this didn't bother dr crippen one bit though by then he had already fallen head over heels in love with ethel but their relationship was hampered by the fact that he was unable to divorce his wife and so he continued the relationship with his mistress all the while living with cora under the same roof the strange situation
continued until 1910 the year when many claimed dr crippen had finally had enough on january 31st 1910 the crippens held a dinner party for paul and clara martinetti who were close friends of korra the evening passed pleasantly enough however the martinelli's later alleged that cora had loudly and savagely berated her husband for failing to escort paul to the bathroom they already be doing that mr marionetti going i'll go myself and go yourself take him he can go himself i can go myself the evening passed pleasantly enough however the marinettes later alleged that cora had loudly
and savagely berated her husband we're going out of the toilet sorry i will get past it on january 31st 1910 the crippens held the dinner party for paul and clara martinetti who were close friends of korra the evening passed pleasantly enough however the martinellis later alleged that cora had loudly and savagely berated her husband for failing to escort paul to the bathroom the dinner party ended in the small hours of february the first and this would be the last time that cora crippen was seen alive because of her job as a stage performer cora's absence
was soon noticed by her circle of friends many of them began asking after her confused at why she had suddenly vanished from london at first their concerns were soothed by dr crippen's claims that she had merely returned to the united states but as weeks passed this excuse no longer felt like the truth her disappearance seemed even more bizarre when dr crippen began to say that she had passed away after suddenly contracting an illness back in her home country as plausible as this may have sounded to some something about it just didn't sit right with others
their suspicions were raised even more when dr crippen's mistress ethel began to wear cora's jewelry in public by the end of february she had moved into the couple's home at hillsrock crescent which many found questionable the unbelievable alleged circumstance of cora's disappearance and eventual death as well as the way the lovers were cavorting around and public proved to be too much the authorities were first alerted by cora's friend strong woman kate williams who also went by the name volcano initially the case wasn't given much mind but when more of korra's performer friends began to come
forward the police started to take action on july 8th a couple of months after cora was last seen by the martinetti's dr crippen was visited by chief inspector walter dew who proceeded to interview him about his wife's disappearance the story that he told however was much different from the explanations he had given to their social circle he told jew that cora had left him for another man by the name of bruce miller an american she had met several years prior jew informed him that it would be better if cora contacted him to confirm this story
and crippen replied stating that he would place advertisements and newspapers in an effort to have her make contact but he never did instead he and leave set off the next day and traveled to brussels continuing on to antwerp where they boarded the ss montrose which was bound for canada knowing that they were the prime suspects and cora's disappearance the lovers decided to don disguises dr krippen shaved his distinctive mustache while ethel disguised herself as a boy together they traveled as father and son back in london the authorities were busy searching the home at number 39
hill drop crescent after it was found that its residents were missing during the investigation chief inspector jew discovered that there were loose bricks in the floor of the cellar and ordered his officers to dig these up nothing could have prepared them for the gruesome sight that lay underneath because what they on earth were the remains of a female body it was severely decomposed and consisted of nothing but pieces of flesh however it clearly lacked its head limbs and skeleton an autopsy determined that the remains belonged to cora crippen whom her husband claimed had returned to
the united states in february the medical examiner also ruled that the doctor's unfortunate wife had been poisoned before being dismembered and buried underneath the cellar floor meanwhile dr crippened ethel had attracted suspicion while on board the ss montrose their co-passengers found them strangely affectionate exhibiting a bond that didn't seem to be one shared between a father and a son more than that though the boy's clothes appeared ill-fitting and this along with their behavior was enough for some people to sound the alarm after growing suspicious himself captain kendall sent a telegram to scotland yard which was
received by chief inspector jew who didn't waste any time he and several officers boarded the ss lorentic which was capable of traveling at much higher speeds than the ss montrose because of this the father and son duo were arrested on july 31st as the ship that they were on was sailing upset lawrence they were identified as dr crippen and his mistress both of whom were swiftly handcuffed and escorted back to london for their trial to quote the history press it was decided that the pair should not be tried together crippen would face his child first
and once that verdict had been determined ethel laniev would take her turn in the dark to be tried as an accessory so it was that on october 18th crippen stood alone in the dark at the old bailey before the lord chief justice of england lord alveston the defense team argued that the body found in the cellar of dr crippen's home was not his wife but rather an unknown woman who had been placed there before the couple had moved in in response the prosecution proved that the remains were in fact cora's they pointed out that one
of the pieces of flesh that had been recovered bore a scar that cora had on her lower abdomen to add to that a pajama jacket that had been wrapped around the body was made of a particular cloth and pattern that was only developed in late 1908 which proved that the remains were buried there after the crippens had moved in but the most damning piece of evidence was that the body contained traces of a poison called hyacine which dr krippen had purchased on january 17th just a few weeks before his wife was last seen alive with
all these presented before them the jury only took 30 minutes to convict dr hawley harvey crippen of the murder of his wife cora and he was sentenced to death ethel laniev was also put on trial a few days later on october 25th however she was ultimately found not guilty of accessory to murder her acquittal meant that 48 year old dr crippen was alone when he faced the gallows on november 23rd he was buried in an unmarked grave with a photograph of his beloved mistress along with several of her letters at first glance the murder case
of cora crippen seems clear-cut not only was there a body and pieces of evidence but there was a motive as well her husband dissatisfied with their marriage and wanting to start a new life with his mistress had poisoned her he had the means to obtain the poison too as a medical practitioner his purchase of a toxic substance would not have been questioned however many claim that the story isn't as unambiguous as history has made us believe all these years for instance professor david foreign the director of forensic science at michigan state university claims the dna
samples obtained from cora crippen's grand nieces bore no match to the remains found in the cellar more than that though they determined that the body wasn't even a woman according to renowned toxicologist john trestrell quote this is the slide which spillsberry used to identify the body as coracrippens and this was the evidence on which crippen was convicted but the substance in the slide is not corocrippen no question i don't say holly crippen is innocent but he is no longer proven guilty foreign and testrial's findings though have been disputed by several experts despite a large number
of detractors attempts to clear dr hawley harvey krippen's name continue only time will tell if they'll succeed as for laniev she spent time in the united states and settled in canada for a while before returning to the uk where she died in 1967. in the 1980s sahu reese rankin claimed to have met ethel and eve many years prior and states that she informed him that krippen had committed the murder because cora had syphilis so what do you think happened did crippen murder his wife or if he didn't whose were the remains that were found and
where did cora turner go let us know in the comments and if you enjoyed this episode and would like to see more make sure to like and subscribe right then until next time take care and i'll see you in the next one you
